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The slave trade of British nail bars: How victims of human trafficking from Vietnam are exploited in beauty salons and forced into prostitution
By REBECCA SEALES PUBLISHED: 12:56 GMT, 18 August 2013 | UPDATED: 13:30 GMT, 18 August 2013
Vietnamese migrants are propping up Britain's beauty industry after being put to work as slaves in nail bars, police have claimed.Thousands of manicurists are believed to be victims of a human-trafficking network stretching from Vietnam's poorer communities to the UK. Once here, the victims - mostly women - are controlled by people traffickers, and many are forced into prostitution.
Trapped: Police have raided around 100 nail bars since 2008, but fear there are thousands more trafficked workers being exploited across the industry (file pictures)
Investigating agencies told The Sunday Times the victims are being charged up to £20,000 each by crime syndicates to be smuggled into Britain. As they cannot pay outright, they are threatened with violence on arrival and forced to work for minimal wages, until the debt is repaid.This form of modern slavery can endure for years, as the discrepancy between the 'debt' and the money paid to these people is so great. There are around 30,000 nail bars in Britain, and police have raided around 100 of them since 2008. Nail bar owners have been fined almost £700,000 for employing 150 illegal immigrants.
London, Manchester and Portsmouth are particular hotspots for the problem. Police admit they have no idea how many trafficked workers there are in the industry - but fear the number is far higher than 150. According to the International Labour Organisation, human traffickers make around £21bn from the people smuggling business, and around 21 million people are trapped in forced labour worldwide.In a sign that the British state is waking up to the problem, the sum allocated to the Government-funded support scheme for victims of trafficking has doubled in the past year, to £3m.
Years of slavery: Trafficking victims are obliged to work for years on end because the sum they owe is so high, and their wages are so low
One trafficking victim, 28-year-old Mi Duc Li [name changed] recently told Northampton Crown Court how he was forced to work in a nail bar in the Midlands to pay off the £23,000 cost of his travel to Britain.Appearing as a prosecution witness against alleged 'slave master' Hanh Van Vu, he told how he escaped after seven years and threw himself on the mercy of the police. Li says he agreed to come to the UK on the promise of high earnings. After using fake travel documents to get through Vietnamese immigration, he destroyed them on the plane and told officials at Heathrow airport he was a refugee.
Using a false name, Li repeated a lie concocted by his traffickers - claiming he had been tortured for protesting against Vietnam's communist government. When questioning officials failed to penetrate his story, Li was allowed into the UK without any further interrogation. He was sent to a nail bar in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire - and given just one day off every two months. 'I was rarely paid and if I was, Vu took money each time for bringing me to the country,' he says.Vu was ultimately sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment on charges related to human trafficking.
Broken dreams: Manicurists in Vietnam are told they can earn their £150 training fee back in the UK in just a few hours
Though Li Tan has escaped the traffickers' clutches, he fears many young men and women like him are waiting to take his place. In his hometown, Haiphong, nail academies charge wannabe manicurists £150 for a six-month course, telling them they can earn the same in just hours in Britain.The Sunday Times, which investigated the trafficking of Vietnamese nationals to UK nail bars, cites figures from two of Britain's biggest nail-product suppliers, who claim there are 100,000 Vietnamese manicurists working in British nail salons.
Worryingly, census data points to just 29,000 Vietnamese-born people officially living in Britain.Back in Vietnam, the British embassy has launched a pilot scheme to give business loans and training to 36 trafficking victims who were returned to Vietnam from Britain, in a bid to help them put their lives back on track.The British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology is urging nail bar customers to play their part against modern slavery. Before getting your shiny new nails, it advises, take a moment to question your manicurist about their training, insurance and qualifications.
Vietnamese migrants are propping up Britain's beauty industry after being put to work as slaves in nail bars, police have claimed.Thousands of manicurists are believed to be victims of a human-trafficking network stretching from Vietnam's poorer communities to the UK. Once here, the victims - mostly women - are controlled by people traffickers, and many are forced into prostitution.
Trapped: Police have raided around 100 nail bars since 2008, but fear there are thousands more trafficked workers being exploited across the industry (file pictures)
Investigating agencies told The Sunday Times the victims are being charged up to £20,000 each by crime syndicates to be smuggled into Britain. As they cannot pay outright, they are threatened with violence on arrival and forced to work for minimal wages, until the debt is repaid.This form of modern slavery can endure for years, as the discrepancy between the 'debt' and the money paid to these people is so great. There are around 30,000 nail bars in Britain, and police have raided around 100 of them since 2008. Nail bar owners have been fined almost £700,000 for employing 150 illegal immigrants.
London, Manchester and Portsmouth are particular hotspots for the problem. Police admit they have no idea how many trafficked workers there are in the industry - but fear the number is far higher than 150. According to the International Labour Organisation, human traffickers make around £21bn from the people smuggling business, and around 21 million people are trapped in forced labour worldwide.In a sign that the British state is waking up to the problem, the sum allocated to the Government-funded support scheme for victims of trafficking has doubled in the past year, to £3m.
Years of slavery: Trafficking victims are obliged to work for years on end because the sum they owe is so high, and their wages are so low
One trafficking victim, 28-year-old Mi Duc Li [name changed] recently told Northampton Crown Court how he was forced to work in a nail bar in the Midlands to pay off the £23,000 cost of his travel to Britain.Appearing as a prosecution witness against alleged 'slave master' Hanh Van Vu, he told how he escaped after seven years and threw himself on the mercy of the police. Li says he agreed to come to the UK on the promise of high earnings. After using fake travel documents to get through Vietnamese immigration, he destroyed them on the plane and told officials at Heathrow airport he was a refugee.
Using a false name, Li repeated a lie concocted by his traffickers - claiming he had been tortured for protesting against Vietnam's communist government. When questioning officials failed to penetrate his story, Li was allowed into the UK without any further interrogation. He was sent to a nail bar in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire - and given just one day off every two months. 'I was rarely paid and if I was, Vu took money each time for bringing me to the country,' he says.Vu was ultimately sentenced to 11 years' imprisonment on charges related to human trafficking.
Broken dreams: Manicurists in Vietnam are told they can earn their £150 training fee back in the UK in just a few hours
Though Li Tan has escaped the traffickers' clutches, he fears many young men and women like him are waiting to take his place. In his hometown, Haiphong, nail academies charge wannabe manicurists £150 for a six-month course, telling them they can earn the same in just hours in Britain.The Sunday Times, which investigated the trafficking of Vietnamese nationals to UK nail bars, cites figures from two of Britain's biggest nail-product suppliers, who claim there are 100,000 Vietnamese manicurists working in British nail salons.
Worryingly, census data points to just 29,000 Vietnamese-born people officially living in Britain.Back in Vietnam, the British embassy has launched a pilot scheme to give business loans and training to 36 trafficking victims who were returned to Vietnam from Britain, in a bid to help them put their lives back on track.The British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology is urging nail bar customers to play their part against modern slavery. Before getting your shiny new nails, it advises, take a moment to question your manicurist about their training, insurance and qualifications.
